


That Thing Called Family

by Katt_Venus



Category: Criminal Case (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-05 00:55:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15158897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katt_Venus/pseuds/Katt_Venus
Summary: That Thing Called Family through the eyes of Katt Venus, and her adventures, experiences, and journey in the Nuevo Flying Squad.





	1. A Prolouge to the Beginning of it All

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Cop to the Madness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11556627) by [Mikey_Jameson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikey_Jameson/pseuds/Mikey_Jameson). 



> Season Two perspective of Katt Venus, a member of the Nuevo Flying Squad by Benjamin Jameson

Twenty four years have passed since the CPD closed, but it marks the beginning for a new story to unfold…

Michael walks on into Nuevo’s base, “Hey there, got a call that a body was found in the town square. Report was called in by a man, so let’s get down there and check it out.” We all head down to the site in order to investigate.

Jason suddenly runs into the scene and trips, clumsy as always and also late. I can’t help but giggle at how clumsy he is. He then gets up back on his feet and looks around without a word. I watch as he picks up and ring and walks over to Michael. Something suddenly catches my eye, and I reach over to pick it up. It’s a simple keychain, metallic, and seems to have a weird marking on it. I walk over and Michael begins to speak to us.

“Okay, the victim was a girl named Abby Frail. Turns out she’s well known around the area. Oh and while you were looking for clues, I found dust on her neck from frisps, so I guess the killer eats frisps.” 

I hand the keychain to Michael and he takes it, “I looked over this ring Jason, it belongs to Baxter Fraser. I’m sure you remember him, as he’s Aeri’s husband. Could you talk to him?” 

Jason nods and replies, “Yep, will do!” He then walks off in search of Baxter. Michael then looks over the keychain and looks up at me, “This keychain has the MGB Fob on it, which means that this belongs to Anya Ivanova. I’m sure you know what to do.”

I walk off and not too long after bump into a person, who is Anya, the exact person I need. 

“Anya, hey I need to talk to you. Got a minute?”

She looks over, “Yeah, I guess. What’s up?”

“I found your keychain at a crime scene. Any idea on how it got there?”

She thinks for second, a bit too long in my opinion. “Oh yes, the chain broke and it slipped off! I figured I could maybe replace it, so I didn’t bother looking for it. Was that all you needed?”

I nod and thank her, and then head off to find the others. When I get back Michael is talking to Jason, and I hear him explain that Baxter said that the ring must have slipped off his finger, and that he was eating frisps when he talked to him.

Michael then suggests we go and check Abby’s stall for more clues, and we head on over as fast as we can. As soon as I walk in, a hairbrush catches my eye as it seems out of place. Jason is already back to Michael and I walk over to them, handing Michael the brush. Jason then hands him a mirror, “I bet the person who looked at this was really ugly to break it. Then again, they could have just dropped it and broke it, but I like the first idea better.” 

Michael once again looks over the items, and he pulls something out of the hairbrush. At first I think that it’s hair but he then explains that it’s a clothing fiber, a black one to be exact, meaning the killer must wear black. He then flips over the mirror and tells Jason that the mirror was punched by Harry Haplan, and asks him to talk to Harry. 

Jason leaves and returns shortly after, “When I asked if he punched the mirror because he couldn’t stand to see his face in it he got kind of mad. He also made a rude comment about my mask… Uh anyways, he says he had just lost a boxing match and got really mad so he punched the mirror! Oh and he eats frisps too.”

Michael looks over and begins to speak, “While while I had time, I did some more investigating and figured out the killer is a male. I actually think that’s enough evidence for an arrest, so who do you think did it?”

Jason quickly replies with Harry, and I think it over for a few seconds and reply with Harry as well. 

Michael shakes his head, “Unfortunately, it seems Baxter is the one to have done the guilty deed. Shall we go and arrest him?”

We all nod and follow him and watch as Michael puts handcuffs on Baxter. Michael quickly asks Baxter why he killed Abby, to which he replied, “She was registered deceased over ten years ago! Her being alive is impossible! The dead are coming back to life, and you’d better watch out!”

Later in the day, Michael informs us that Baxter couldn’t be sentenced, as Abby wasn’t alive when she was killed at the time. As he’s telling us, his phone rings and he pulls it out of his pocket. After answering and talking to the person over the phone for a few minutes, he hangs up. “Alright team, looks like we’ve got another case on our hands. A body was found at a garden party, so let’s go!”

Little did we know what was in store for us, and what awaited us in the future as we opened this new chapter in our lives...


	2. Garden Party and a Slice of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter to the series, That Thing Called Family. 
> 
> Things kick off when a body is found at a garden party. Can the team find the person who killed this lovely garden maiden?

We arrive at the party, which is set up in a fancy garden. Guess it’s called a garden party for a reason. Jason wanders off in search of clues and I manage to step on something. I lean over and pick it up, it’s a pack of playing cards, and they’re soaked. They’re also neon colored, which is a great way to blind someone in my opinion. Jason then walks back over holding a stuffed elephant, “ Look, I found a stuffed giraffe.” 

Michael looks at Jason with a confused look on his face, and I hand him the playing cards. “You do realize that’s an elephant….right?” Jason looks it over and hands it to Michael, shrugging his shoulders. “Dunno, but I did find it next to a body.”

Michael looks over the playing cards first, and he mentions that they are soaked in alcohol. “Hey Katt, these must belong to Humphrey Mitchell. He’s the town drunk, which explains why these are soaked in alcohol. Could you go talk to him?” I nod and begin to walk away, as Michael begins to talk to Jason, frowning as he speaks. “This elephant has a name on the tag, it’s Sapphire Nevixo, Katt’s sister. Can you go find her and talk to her?” Jason nods and walks off in search of my sister. 

I end up bumping into someone, and he spills the alcohol he was holding all over himself. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Wait are you Humphrey?”

He looks over at me and hiccups as he talks, his words are very slurred. “That depends on who’s asking cutie. What do you need?”

“I found you neon playing cards, they were soaked in alcohol.”

He continues to hiccup as he speaks, “Oh those things, I forgot them. I usually forget stuff when I’m drunk, which is all the time.”

I sigh, “Why do people always forget things? It’s so inconvenient.”

He looks at me, eyeing me up and down. “Heyyy, you’re pretty cute. Want to go on a date?”

I look at him, he’s clearly not joking around. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Awww come on, it will be fun.”

I stare him down, “How about this, when the world comes to an end, then we can go on a date. Deal?” 

He hiccups and teeters a bit, “Whatever you say princessss.”

Annoyed, I talk to him, “Don’t ever call me princess. I’m done here.” I walk away and back to Michael, where Jason is talking to him. I walk up to them and Jason is telling Michael about how the talk with Sapphire went.

“So I told her about her toy giraffe, and she gave me a weird look. She then said that the giraffe was her first toy as a child and that she carries it around with her. She said giraffe really weird, I don’t think she knew it was a giraffe all along. Oh she said it was her favorite thing in the world, and she lost it. I can’t believe all these years later people are still dropping things everywhere.”

Michael then comments, saying that the interrogations were very...interesting. I tell him about how the talk with Humphrey went, and he says, “Yeah...I wouldn’t want to date him either. So how about we check the house. After all the food for the party was prepared in the kitchen there.” 

We nod and walk over to the kitchen, and the first thing that catches my eye is a shiny watch sitting on the counter. I look over at Jason picking up a pumpkin and putting it in front of his head, even though it’s not carved. I walks over to Michael and tell him what I found, giving it to him. Jason walks over, the pumpkin still in front of his face. He runs into the counter, and he the walks around the counter, only to walk into a chair. “Ow, those things really jumped out at me from nowhere. I found this neat looking pumpkin, do you think we can carve it?”

Michael shakes his head, “It’s not even close to Halloween yet Jason… While we were waiting for you to walk over, I looked at the watch. It’s similar to mine, I paid 30,000 Rubels for mine. What’s odd though it that a farm laborer could afford something like this. Katt, can you talk to Jeremy Doe for me?” Jason then places the pumpkin into Michael’s hands, and he looks it over. “Huh the name Luna is carved into this...Luna Giranimus? Jason, can you talk to her? Also tell her that Michael says hi. Oh and before you two leave, Laci was poisoned with fruit punch. In order to get the right combination...the killer must know chemistry. Also, if she was poisoned with fruit punch, they must also drink fruit punch! Good luck you two!” Jason wanders off and I walk off to find Jeremy. As I walk out, I see Aeri walk up to Lance outside. He talks to her and points in the direction of Michael, and she begins to walk over. 

It’s not hard to find Jeremy, as he’s wearing overalls while standing by the punch table drinking a cup of fruit punch that’s half full...or is it half empty? “Hey there Jeremy, I found your watch in the kitchen.”

He looks over at me, “Do I know you? Anyways, it was broken, and I didn’t want to bother getting it repaired.”

“Weird because usually a person with a watch that expensive would get it fixed rather than just leaving it somewhere. It didn’t look broken to me anyways. You enjoying that fruit punch?”

He nods and takes a sip, “Yep, it’s pretty good. Need anything else?”

“Oh, do you happen to know Chemistry?”

He nods once again, and looks down into his cup, “Yep, I was the best at it. It was my favorite subject in school, got an A+ in it too.”

I thank him and walk back over to Michael to tell him what I found. On the way back I run into Jason and we talk about it went with Luna. “Well I went up to Luna and asked her if she always carried pumpkins around with her. She said no, but only when she’s going to make pumpkin pie with them. That sounds pretty good actually…” I nod and we walk back where Aeri is handing Michael a checkbook.

He looks over at us, “Oh hey there team! Aeri came in a bit late but she found a checkbook in the process. It looks like it’s been signed by Claire Leucier, she’s an engineer. Aeri can you talk to her?” Aeri nods and walks out of the room, and Michael looks at Jason and I. 

“So how about we check Laci’s room? It seems this house belongs to her, we can go look for clues while Aeri talks to Claire.”

We head upstairs to Laci’s room, and upon walking in Jason trips over a high heel. He picks himself up and grabs the high heel from off the floor. I walk over to the desk and pick up a sketchbook. I open the book and flip through the pages, the drawings are pretty neat.

I walk over and hand Michael the sketchbook, and Jason hands him the high heel. Michael looks over the high heel carefully, “It looks like this belonged to Laci. There’s some bloody foam on it, along with a bit of cupcake cream. During the autopsy she had no traces of cupcake in her system, so this must belong to our killer, meaning the killer likes to eat cupcakes. As for this sketchbook, I’ve looked through it, and it seems to belong to Sapphire. Katt, can you talk to your sister?” I nod and walk out of the room, in search of my sister. 

I find her a few minutes later in the garden among other people, and I pull her off to the side. “Hey Sapphy, I found your sketchbook in Laci’s room.”

She shrugs, “Oh that thing? Yeah, I was showing them to her earlier. They’re decent I guess…”

“Well how good were you at Chemistry in school? Do you still eat cupcakes and drink fruit punch?”

She rolls her eyes at me, “Why so many questions? Don’t you remember anything? I was the best at Chemistry, I passed with an A. Also duh I still drink fruit punch, why wouldn’t I? And cupcakes, yeah I eat those too. I love those things, especially vanilla ones.”

I hmph at her, “No need to get sassy, besides that’s my job. Also, clearly pineapple upside down cupcakes are the best. Oh and don’t forget that I’m great at knife throwing.”

She laughs at me, “Aha as if you’d throw a knife at me.”  
I stare at her, “You really want to take that bet? I think I’ve asked you all I need to know, so I’ll be on my way.”

She stops me and grabs my wrist, and slips something in my hand. “Before you go, here I wanted you to have this. I got it a few days ago.” She lets go of my wrists and then walks away. I look at the paper in my hands, a picture really. “Oh..”

I see Michael glance over at me, he seems a bit confused. I walk back over and shove the picture into my pocket, he then begins to speak, “How about we check the kitchen again?” We all walk back over to the kitchen, where a hand mirror catches my eye as light reflects off of it. Jason picks up a piece of cake, he looks tempted to eat it.

I hand the mirror over to Michael, “Why the weird look earlier?” He shakes his head and says it’s nothing. Jason hands over the cake a bit reluctantly, and Michael looks it over. He looks over the mirror first and chuckles a bit, “This mirror is Luna’s, probably from her self portraits. Katt, can you go talk to her?” He then looks over the cake, “This cake, it’s been bitten by Jeremy. Jason, can you find him and talk to him?”

I walk outside, Luna is sitting at a table by herself. I pull out a chair and sit in it, leaning both my elbows on the table. “So you’re Luna. I bet you like looking at yourself in a mirror.” 

She looks at me quizzically, “Sometimes, yeah. Who are you exactly?”

“The name’s Katt Venus, and I’ve got a few questions for you. Do you drink fruit punch and eat cupcakes?”

She nods, “I was actually about to get another glass of fruit punch, and yes cupcakes are amazing. I love making cupcakes, I made a batch of them not too long ago, they’re my favorite sweet.”

“They are good, I have to agree. Oh are you any good at Chemistry?”

She shakes her head side to side, “No, I wasn’t very good at it in school. I barely passed with a C-.” 

I stand up and push the chair back in, thanking Luna. I walk back over to Michael, where Aeri is telling him about how her talk with Claire went. “I asked her about the checkbook and she claims she was giving Laci a loan, but she left her checkbook there by accident. She said she’s not too great at Chemistry either, because she prefers Physics. Also she loves cupcakes, she says that everyone should love cupcakes.”

Jason walks back in and tells us how the talk with Jeremy went. “So I walked up to him, he was pretty nice. He says he does like cake, but he prefers cupcakes because he can’t get enough of them. Then I told him that’s how I was with cookies, and he questioned if that was a good thing or a bad thing! I didn’t know so I just shrugged and asked him what he likes to do for fun. Get this, he thought I was flirting with him! Turns out in his free time he likes to play around with Chemistry and drink fruit punch.” 

Michael thinks for a second, “How about we head back out to the party?” We all nod and head outside once again. 

I end up stepping on a party hat, crushing it. I pick it up and reform it as best I can, but it’s still got a few creases here and there. I look over at Jason and he picks up a bottle of glitter, and then proceeds to spill some of it on himself. 

We both walk over and hand our items to Michael, and he looks them over. “This party hat, I think I saw Claire wearing it earlier. Katt, can you talk to her? As for the glitter, don’t worry about spilling a little bit of it. This belongs to Humphrey and I bet that he spilled more than you did Jason. Go talk to him please?” Jason wanders off, the glitter on him sparkling as he leaves. I walk off the find Claire, and she’s drinking what I assume is water. 

“Hey there, were you wearing a party hat earlier?”

She nods, “Yeah but it fell off and I was wondering where it went, but didn’t bother looking for it. Figured I could always find another.” 

“Understandable. Were you any good at Chemistry? Also by any chance do you like to drink fruit punch?”

She thinks for a second, “I loved Chemistry, it was my favorite subject in school. As for fruit punch, I don’t really care for it. I don’t really like fruit flavored drinks.”

I nod and start to head back to Michael, and on the way I see Jason talking to Humphrey. I stand off to the side and listen into the conversation. 

Jason looks over at Humphrey, “So why do you have a bottle of glitter anyways?”

Humphrey, still hiccuping and slurring his words replies, “It makes everything look pretty.”

“Well do you eat cupcakes?”

He hiccups once more and giggles, “Yeah, they’re good mannnn. I’ve never seen a talking bird before..”

“Honestly, I don’t see you being any good at Chemistry.”

Humphrey shakes his head and giggles, “Nahhhh bird man, I’m great at it.”

Jason hmphs, “Is the only thing you ever drink alcohol? I don’t think that’s safe.”

“Nah, I drink fruit punch too. I always add in a bit of alcohol to it, improves the taste.”

“Of course you do.” Jason looks over and I wave, and I then walk off to find Michael. I walk over to Michael and let him know how my interrogation went, and a few minutes later Jason joins as well. 

Michael looks over, “Well how about we head back to Laci’s room?” We all nod in agreement and head on up to her room once more. I pick up a recipe book and flip through it, some of the recipes sound yummy. Meanwhile next to me, Jason picks up a coffee mug, and I watch as he almost drops it.

I walk over to Michael handing him the book, and Jason places the cup on top of the book. Michael looks over the items, “I sure do love a good party, but this one has just been awful. Hopefully we can wrap up this case soon, as the party will be over soon and people will be clearing out. This recipe book, it’s very basic but aside from that there’s a string in here. It’s covered in fruit punch, and looks like it’s from a party hat. Also the mug has blood on it, the blood type B- to be exact. So the killer must have this type of blood. I think we have enough to arrest team.”

Without hesitation Jason shouts out Humphrey’s name, while I mention that I think it’s Jeremy. Michael nods at me, “Yep, looks like Jeremy did this. Jason, can you go arrest him?” Jason walks off to find Jeremy, and meanwhile I walk over to Lance.

I walk up to his side, “Hey Lance, got a minute? I think I need to tell you something.” 

He nods, “I’ve got plenty of time Katt. What’s up?”

I pull the picture out of my pocket, holding it somewhat tightly in my hands. “Well earlier Sapphire handed me a picture, and I figured you should know.”

He tilts his head quizzically, “Tell me what exactly?”

I sigh, “Well I have another sister, a twin actually.”

Lance seems confused, and in the confusion he asks, “You...have a twin?”

A bit nervous now, I continue to speak, “Um maybe? It’s nothing special really…”

He thinks for a second, “I’m intrigued. How about we wait on Jason to arrest?”  
I nod and as if on cue Jason walks back in. He seems nervous and confused, well not really confused as he’s always confused. He seems shaken up, and Michael asks what happened. “Well I went up to him, told him he was under arrest for the murder of Laci Gardener. He claimed he didn’t kill anyone though. I wondered why people always do that, claim that they didn’t kill anyone. I told him we had enough evidence to point to him, and that he was under arrest and was going to go to prison. He got really scared and pulled out a gun, saying that he couldn’t go to prison. Then he...he shot himself.”

Michael nods, “I guess all we can do now is head back to the station. Jason, I want you to see if any other parties are happening nearby. While Katt and Lance talk about her twin, I’ll go see if I can find Sapphire.” Jason looks excited about the thought of more parties, Michael walks out in search of Sapphire, and I walk back over to Lance.

“Hey Lance. Want to talk about my twin a bit more?”

He nods, “Of course. What else did you want to tell me?”

“Well her name is Emma, and she’s my twin. We look almost exactly alike, and act almost the same as well. We’re both super smart, and we both have the same colored eyes. The reason I’m bringing all this up now...well Sapphire handed me a picture of Emma earlier. After my parents died, Emma just left. All she left behind was a family picture of all of us, and I haven’t seen her since then.”

Lance nods, “I understand.”

Michael then runs back in, “Sapphire is gone! I don’t know where she’s gone, it’s like she disappeared!”

As if on cue, a girl walks in carrying a dagger of some sorts. “Hey there, found this dagger laying around. Figured you guys would need it. Oh and found a body as well, just thought I’d let you know.” 

I can’t help but just stare, no words come to mind in this situation. Michael clears his throat, “Katt, I think it’s best if you lead this case. Now let’s go, looks like we’ve got another case to solve!”


	3. The Picture of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's such a shame when a familiar face is found dead at a photo shoot. Can the team find the killer who caused this death, before they're gone in a flash?

I look at the girl who has just walked in, it’s like a dream. She’s holding a dagger, and looks at me with a smile. “Hey sis, did you miss me?” I shake my head, confused, “Em-Emma, what are you doing here? How the hell did you get that dagger?”

She giggles, “I already told you. Found it on the way here.”

I walk over to her and snatch the dagger from her. “Give me that, you shouldn’t be walking around with a random dagger.”

She shrugs her shoulders and I look over to the team, “I guess I’ll be leading this case. I heard that someone thinks a murder happened at a studio nearby. Let’s check it out.” 

We all head to the studio and walk on in, as the door is wide open. We all look around and Michael then speaks, “This got interesting really fast. Anyways, Emma mentioned a body. If one of you finds it, do let me know as I need to autopsy it.”

I nod, “Agreed. Why don’t we take a look around here for clues?” We all split off and regroup a few minutes later. Michael hands me a pocket watch, but says it isn’t his. Jason then hands me a broken tape player. “I found a tape player. Well a broken tape player, I dropped it.” 

I shake my head, “No worries, just say it was broken when you found it. There’s a name on the back of it, Corey Phillipo. I believe he’s a competitive swimmer. Could you talk to him Jason? As for the pocket watch, I recognize it. Unfortunately, it’s Emma’s, so could you interrogate her Michael? Also Michael, I think you’ll be glad to know that I found the body.”

The team splits off and Jason returns first, “So I told him the tape player got broken. He seemed a bit mad. Then I said how dare they but I think he figured out I broke it. Oh and he’s creepy. He was at the photo shoot because he likes watching people get their pictures taken.”

Michael comes back, “So the body is none other than Benjamin’s uncle, Stephan Darnett! I’ll continue to autopsy, so I’ll call in Lance to help until I’m done. Also I told Emma she looked exactly like you, and she called me an imbecile. I don’t like her, but she says hi.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Emma can be a bit sassy at times. I hope she wasn’t too bad. Anyways, let’s check the back room of the studio, see if there’s anything there.”

Jason walks back up to me, “Hey wait, aren’t you sassy too? I uh...found a phone.”

Lance comes over as well, “This studio is actually quite normal looking. I did find this quiver though which is odd, as Stephan didn’t use those.”

I look over the items, “Huh, last I know of yeah, he didn’t use a quiver. Who writes their name on a quiver? Nick Tyler is the name written on this quiver, can you talk to him Lance? As for the phone, it was unlocked which made it much easier to find out who it belonged to. This phone belongs to Rebecca Senix. Jason, you know what to do. Before you go, I found a bag of tea, and Stephan didn’t drink tea, meaning the killer drinks tea.”

Lance nods and leaves, and returns not long after. “I got the autopsy results after I talked to Nick. Michael says that Stephan was stabbed with a dagger, probably the one Emma brought to us. He says it was also covered in bird feathers, so I’m going to guess the killer owns a bird. He also found croissant crumbs, so the killer eats those!”

Jason walks on in, “She left it when she came to get her photo taken. I don’t get how people always leave stuff, especially important things like a phone. People should take better care of their things.”

Lance then looks over, “Before Jason walked in, I was going to tell you about Nick, but I suppose now is fine as well. He says they practiced archery together. Good thing I talked to Nick though, I reminded him of an appointment him and I have on Friday.”

I nod, “I guess that is fair, I do forget things sometimes as well. How about we head to a nearby bard and see what we find?”

We head to the bar and Jason walks over to a drunk person who is passed out. He pokes the person and then picks up something next to him. I see Michael sitting over on a chair and he’s looking over something in his hands. I walk over to him and slide in the chair next to him. 

He looks over at me, “So can I order an absinthe? Looks like someone already did judging by this dirty glass, it’s got drops of absinthe left in it.”

I take the cup from him and look it over, and Jason takes a seat next to me and places a broken shot glass down on the counter. “You can order one if you’d like Michael, it’s not like I can stop you anyways. I only know of one person who drinks absinthe, aside from you of course. That one person is Emma, so Jason, can you talk to her? She’s bound to be nearby.”

Jason gets up and leaves, and I carefully look over the broken shot glass. I then notice that Jason left it next to a card of some sorts, and I pick it up. “Huh, this card was left here. Looks like it’s for an art business of some sorts, there’s a name on here. Grace Lewitt, can you talk to her Michael?” 

He nods and leaves the bar, and I sit there for some time before Jason returns first. He sits back down next to me. “She goes to bars pretty often huh. She claims it’s to get away from her bird squawking, but she still loves her bird. She drinks tea with her croissants, what’s wrong with her? Those don’t belong together, or do they…” He trails off, clearly deep in thought about tea and croissants and whether or not they belong together. 

Michael joins us a few minutes later, and orders an absinthe. He takes a sip and begins to speak, “Grace does own a bird, she had it with her. Calls it Tweetums, that’s a lovely name… She also drinks tea, quite a bit from the multiple tea boxes she had in her studio. She also knew Stephan and was expecting him...well not anymore.”

I sigh, “How about we head back to the photo shoot. Maybe we missed something?” We all stand and leave the bar, and arrive back at the photo shoot.

Jason picks up a brick, nearly dropping it on his foot in the process. I then hear Michael saying that he found a cool looking bottle cap. Jason replies immediately, “Hey! You shouldn’t call things weird looking. That bottle cap has feelings too!” Michael winks over at him, “I thought the old were meant to be wise.” Jason has to think for a moment before he replies, “Hey don’t call me wise. I’m old, not wise. Wait I’m not even that old!” 

I shake my head and look over the items, “Huh, the killer must collect bottle caps, I’ve never seen one like this before. That is oddly shaped, I do have to agree, but I’m not sure about it having feelings… Last I checked, Corey held a world record for most bottle caps. Jason, want to talk to him? Now for this brick, I’m honestly not sure why it would be here, but it belongs to Nick Tyler. As for why the hell he owns a brick, I don’t know. Want to talk to him Michael?”

They all nod and head off, Michael is the first to return. “I went in and he thought I was there for an appointment. He does drink tea, but prefers a soda along with a croissant sometimes. Oh he collects bottle caps from the sodas he drinks. We had to stop talking as he had to go feed his bird though.” 

Jason walks in, well trips, over a cord leading to a camera. “Oops sorry. I told him he had no life cause he collects bottle caps. He got mad at me I think? He called me weird though for my plague doctor mask, how rude. He doesn’t drink tea, and he’s allergic to birds, but he does eat croissants. I swear something is wrong with that dude, not drinking tea and being allergic to birds.”

I look over, “I don’t think he can control the fact that he’s allergic to birds. Actually nevermind… Let’s go to the library and see what we can find.” We all walk over to the library and as soon as we walk in Michael walks over to a shelf and begins to fiddle with some books. He picks up a book and then puts it back, sighing. I then look over at Jason who has somehow found a bowling ball. I also watch as he drops it on his foot and watch him hop around on one foot. Michael walks over and taps my shoulder, handing me a photograph and pointing to a broken lamp on the floor. 

I walk over and look at the lamp, it seems somewhat familiar. “This lamp, I think I saw Corey carrying this the other day, except it wasn’t broken. Can you talk to him Michael?” 

Jason hops over and hands me the bowling ball, it somewhat crushes the picture Michael handed to me. “You okay Jason? Bowling balls are heavy you know, you have to be careful. Anyways, this belongs to Rebecca, can you talk to her?” I watch as Jason hops away on one foot, hopefully he’ll be okay. I look over the picture and speak to Michael, “Huh, this is a picture of Emma, Sapphire, and I. I’ll go find her and see what she knows.” Michael and I walk in different directions, and I go to find my sister. 

It’s not long before I bump into her, she’s at the top floor of the library sitting at a table. I slide into the chair next to her, “Hey there.” 

She looks over and smiles, “Hi sis, how are you?” 

I nod at her, “Fine, I guess. I need to ask you a few questions though.”

“Go ahead, ask away.”

I sigh, “You still eat croissants right?”

She thinks for a second, “I swear I think someone already asked me that.”

“Sorry, just double checking.”

She giggles, “You’re such a perfectionist. Let me guess, is the next question if I own a bird or not?” 

I nod and she replies, “Yep, I still own Lulu. Any other questions?”

“Well do you drink tea? You never drank it when we were kids.”

She looks over at me, “People change you know. Since then, I’ve also started collecting bottle caps too, it’s a fun hobby.”

I stand up and push the chair back in, “Okay thanks. I’ll be going now.” She waves as I walk away, and I somewhat wave back. 

As I walk back downstairs, I see Michael and Jason waiting for me. Michael begins to speak, “Corey knocked the lamp over in the library. He was trying to eat croissants and drink tea, and he knocked it over on accident. He said it’s hard sometimes because his mom has to watch his bird sometimes, but to relieve the stress he collects bottle caps. Oh, and I autopsied the body while I was waiting on Jason to finish talking to Rebecca.”

I nod and look over at Jason, “Sure that’s fine Michael. What did Rebecca say Jason, also how’s your foot?” He looks over at me, “Ah it’s fine now. I asked her why she had a bowling ball in the library cause that’s a weird thing to carry around. She said she was going to a tournament later and that she was going to meet a friend to eat tea and croissants with them. She had bird feathers in her hair, I think she owns a bird. Oh and she collects bottle caps too!”

Michael taps me on the shoulder, “When I autopsied the body again, I found something.” He then holds up a tiny black thread. “This is from a black belt, meaning the killer wears a black belt. So what next Katt?” I think for a few seconds, “I think we have enough to make an arrest.”

Michael speaks, “Well just off what I’ve seen, I think Nick did it.” Jason shakes his head, “I’m going with Rebecca.” I look over at Michael, “Good guess, it seems Nick Tyler killed Stephan. Can you go ahead and take care of the arrest?”

Michael leaves and as we wait, I sit at the table and begin to read a book. Michael comes back and tells us how it went. “He was so confused, but then I told him we found bottle caps in uncle Steph’s studio. He said that everyone collects them, but then I asked him about the croissants. He said yes, but it sounded more like a question than an answer. Anyways, turns out him and Stephan were partners, but once Stephan started making money, he forgot about Nick.”

I nod, “Since that’s done, how about we go to the next case?” Lance then enters, and Michael tells him that he needs to talk. He tells Lance that when Jason and Michael arrested Jeremy, he passed a man that he remembered from his childhood. He didn’t remember the name, but wanted to see if Lance knew him. Lance nods, “Alright team, I’m going to work with Michael to figure out who this man was. Katt can you talk to Emma? Also Jason, can you talk to Nick?”

I nod and walk off, Emma is still on the second floor reading a book. I sit down next to her once again, “Emma...we need to talk.” 

She looks over, “About?”

I sigh, “Well for one, you left all those years ago with no word to Sapphire or I. You better have a good explanation.” 

She stares at me and sighs, “I figured you’d want to look for the Shadow. Honestly, I didn’t want you to get involved, but I guess it’s too late now.”

“So you’re looking for them too?”

She rolls her eyes at me, “Duh, why wouldn’t I?”

I shrug, “I guess you have a point. Just...don’t leave again okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She giggles, “Sure, whatever you say sis.l I know you still love me, even if I do things over the top sometimes. After all, the oldest sister always knows what’s best, isn’t that right?”

I stand up and push the chair in, “Yeah yeah yeah. Just because I’m the oldest doesn’t mean I know everything and anything.”

She smiles at me, “Aha you haven’t changed one bit.”

I smile back, “Neither have you. I’ve got to go, but be more careful from now on.” She waves as I walk away, and I head back down to Michael. As I walk towards Lance and Michael I hear part of their conversation, so I stop walking.

Michael seems overworked about something, “No way!”

Lance sighs, “I’m afraid so.”

Michael shakes his head, “But how? He should be in his late forties, so why does he look younger than me?”

Lance looks down, “I don’t know, and to be honest, if it is him, I want to know how he is alive. He should be dead.”

Michael seems a bit angry, “You’re right, after all I can’t forgive him for what he did. If he’s alive, we have to find out and why.”

I see Jason walk back in, and I continue walking towards Michael and Lance. I tap Michael on the shoulder, “Got a report of a body at a local park. Jogger found it in the bushes, and they called right away. Shall we head there now?”

Everyone nods, and we head off to the park, on the way to the next case. This case sounds difficult, it doesn’t sound like it will be a walk in the park. If anything, this case will be a hard one to crack...


	4. The Park of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A body is found in a local park nearby. Will this case be a walk in the park for the team, or will it just be a hard one to crack?

We arrive at the park, and Michael walks over to some bushes. “Huh high noon, interesting time of day to investigate. I found the body over here, this should be interesting.” He then picks up a bag of some sorts and I look over at Jason. I watch as he picks up a cactus and pulls his hand back a bit. I hear as he says ow, and he releases the cactus, holding it by the pot now. 

Michael walks over and hands me a bag filled with a strange powder. I immediately dip and finger into it and put it into my mouth. Michael looks at me, “You shouldn’t be doing that.” I shrug, “It’s exactly what I thought it was. The killer must drink coffee, as this is coffee powder.” I turn the bag over in my hands, looking it over and find a name tag on it. “This bag of coffee seems to belong to Logan Deville. Jason, can you find him and talk to him?” Jason nods and hands me the cactus, and he then leaves. I look over the cactus, “This reminds me, someone local grows cacti. I believe it was Maria Sanzia. Can you talk to her Michael?” He nods and leaves, and I look around the area in case any clues were missed.

Jason walks back up to me a few minutes later, his hand is a bit red and swollen. I look over, “Your hand okay Jason?”

He nods, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s fine. If it turns into a werecactus that would be so cool! Oh Logan’s coffee is the one he brought from home. He said it’s his favorite brand and he dropped it.”

Michael walks up to Jason and I, and looks over at Jason’s hand. “Hopefully your hand gets better. I got the autopsy results, seems the poor girl was killed with a Buck 119 knife. It’s mostly used for hunting. As for the victim’s name, it seems she was known as Luna Marcia. I also got some interesting stuff from the body, dog hairs to be exact. So I assume the killer was walking a dog when they commited a crime, so they own a dog. There were also fabrics on her body, from a hat to be exact, so the killer wears one of those!”

I nod, and Michael continues, “Maria knew Luna, she said she was a lovely girl. When I told her that Luna was dead she fainted so I took her to a doctor.” I sigh, “How about we check her house, see if we can find anything.”

We head over to her house, which is only a few minutes walk away. The door is unlocked, so we let ourselves on in. I look over at Michael, “Well this looks out of place.” I then watch as he drinks some absinthe he found, and he then picks up a toothpick. Jason looks over, “Do you always drink random things you find in random people’s houses?” He then looks over and shoves a cookie into his mouth. “Ooh that tastes so good.” Between chewing, he picks up an air freshener. 

I walk over, “Jason, I thought you were saying you shouldn’t drink things in other people’s houses. Also Michael, I do think you should drink less…” I take the toothpick from Michael, it’s actually somewhat dirty. “I think Alex Grey uses these, he’s the local barber. Michael, and you talk to him?” Michael takes another sip of the absinthe as he walks away, “Drink less? I think not.” I sigh and look over the air freshener, “Who the hell puts their name on an air freshener? Jason, can you talk to Julie Marcia. She is Luna’s sister, so be careful as her sister is dead.” He nods and walks off, still chewing the cookie. 

I sigh and walk around the house, and Michael joins me in the kitchen where I’m looking at some of Luna’s family pictures. He walks over, “He said I needed a haircut, but to be fair, my hair is already perfect. Rude little sh-” 

“What did you find out?” 

He continues to speak, “He figured that of course a guy with scissors was a suspect, thought I was blaming him. Anyways, he loves hunting, as he owns a Buck 119.”

I watch as Jason walks back in, “She said she wrote her name on it because it’s hers. I mean, she makes air fresheners. I told her that it stank, and she thought I was rude, but I was just being honest. She said she left it at the house because, well it is her sister’s house after all.”

I sigh again, “Let’s head on over to the local bar, and please no absinthe Michael.” I flip a knife and look in his direction. He stares me down, “Do it bitch, dad will just fire you.” I shake my head and we all walk over to the bar. Michael stops at the door and looks at the door, it’s made of glass, and it’s somewhat broken. He holds onto the door for a second and lets it go when he’s done looking. Jason walks in and gets hit in the face by the door, and he stumbles back a bit, stunned. He falls to the ground and then picks up a little flag of some sorts. 

I help Jason up and take the flag from him, and he walks past the door. I then look at the broken glass, there’s a liquid on it. I run my finger in it and lick my finger, Michael looks at me in disgust. I glare back, “What? There’s pear juice on this broken glass, so the killer must eat pears. I didn’t realize pears could break glass doors though. Anyways, what I do know is that Jewel Gorgoni adores eating pears, along with spending time at bars, meaning she must be here. Michael, can you go find her and talk to her?” He nods and walks off in the direction of the closest female in the bar. I look over at the flag in my hand, it’s got some initials on it. “Hey Jason, can you talk to Logan? It seems his initials are on this flag. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” Jason nods and wanders off back out the door. 

I see Michael sitting next to a woman, so I walk over and sit next to him. 

He looks over at me, and then back at the woman. “So Jewel, what are you doing here?”

She’s clearly drunk, as she slurs her words. “I fancied a drink! You seem like you enjoy one or two drinks.” She falls backwards and Michael helps her back up.

I glare at Michael and he glances at me, “I do enjoy a good absinthe, but now it not a good time.”

She leans over and licks his cheek, “Well maybe you’d like something else.”

I hear Michael gulp and he shakes his head, “Oh my god. No thanks, I’ll be going now.” I stand and sit at another table, Michael joins me a few moments later. He says nothing, but drinks some absinthe he just ordered. Jason wanders back in and sits down next to us. 

I look over at him, “Hey there.”

“He uses the flag to mark his things. A bit weird though because I found it on the floor, unless he owns the floor… He said he dropped it, but who knows, maybe he does own the floor. He also likes eating pears with his coffee, what a weird combination. Oh get this, he’s allergic to dogs. Can you believe that? His hat was weird looking too, he’s so strange.”

I shake my head, “It’s not weird that he’s allergic to dogs Jason, people can’t control that sort of thing. Anyways, how about we head over to Luna’s office?” Michael chugs the last of his absinthe, and we all head off to the office. As we walk in I see Jason walk over to a vase and he pokes it. Michael walks up to me holding a ripped cushion, and he giggles.

I walk over to Jason, and he says, “This looks so fragile, weird that it’s in such a boring office like this. It’s so pretty.” I carefully pick up the vase, and look it over. There’s a small tag on the bottom, “Hey there’s a small name tag on the bottom. Looks like this belongs to Maria. Can you talk to her Jason?” He nods and Michael walks over to me, still holding the cushion. I take it from him, and notice that there’s a small scrap of fabric stuck on it. “This fabric looks like it’s from Alex’s jacket. Can you go talk to him again Michael?” Michael leaves the office and I sit down on a chair, picking up the vase and looking it over. Jason was right about it being pretty..

Some time passes and Jason is the first one back in the office. He sits down next to me and looks at the vase. “She said that was one of a kind, so you may want to be careful with it.”

I glare at him, “I’m always careful with stuff.”

He looks away, “Right right. She grows pears, then again that does make sense since she’s a gardener. Her dog helps her in the garden, but I guess all it can really do is help dig. I bet that’s cute though. She was drinking coffee when I talked to her, and she wears a hat when she gardens. Oh she had another lamp next to her. I poked it and it fell over and kind of..broke it. She said it costs billions of dollars...so uh, yeah.” 

Michael walks back in, he seems a bit angry. “That little bit-”

I cover Jason’s ears and glare at Michael, “There are kids around.”

Jason whines, “But I’m not a kid!”

Michael sighs, “He was drinking coffee when I found him. He assumed I came back to get a haircut, the nerves of that guy. He calls his dog Bronson, what a stupid name.”

I shake my head, “How about we go to the arcade center? Maybe we can all relax for a bit and if anyone wants, play a game of air hockey.” Jason nods excitedly, “I’ll play, I’m good at air hockey! That’s the game where you throw balls into a hole right?” I sigh and shake my head, and we all walk over to the arcade. 

Jason runs in the arcade and he runs around, only stopping for a second to pick up a spinning top. Michael sighs, “I should refrain from playing games, it’s not exactly gentlemanly. Also I noticed on the air hockey pucks some pieces are fabric are missing, and there’s also some blood and hair on it. I’d like to analyse it if that’s fine?” I nod and he bends over and grabs a shoelace from under the air hockey table. 

I cough, “Well it’s not “exactly gentlemanly” to drink absinthe all the time Michael.” Jason runs over and hands me the spinning top, and he runs off. I look at the spinning top Jason handed me, it has some initials on it. “JM, this must belong to Julie Marcia, after all she does like putting her name on things. Michael, can you go talk to her? As for the shoelace, it’s rainbow patterned, kind of weird in my opinion. I think Jewel likes wearing rainbow colored things.” I look over at Jason who is still running around and I shout to him, “When you’re done running around can you talk to Jewel please Jason?” He gives me a thumbs up and leaves the arcade, and Michael leaves as well. 

I spend some time walking around the arcade looking at the different games, and some while later Jason joins my side and walks around with me. We reach the air hockey table and he picks up the puck and throws it, and Michael catches it as he walks back into the arcade. “Ooops. Uh anyways, I think if she could Jewel would dye her dog’s fur rainbow. She also likes coffee almost as much as she likes alcohol, but she eats pears too, so whatever.” 

Michael walks on over and looks at me, “Also that whole, not gentlemanly thing. A gentleman only drinks when no ladies are in sight, so I think I’m safe.”

I glare, “It took you that long to think of a reply...jeez. What did Julie say?”

He thinks for a second, “Ah well I was looking for Julie and a dog started following me, and a woman started following the dog, who was following me. Anyways, it was Julie and turns out she was going to the coffee shop to get a macchiato and a pear, but her dog ran off. Her hat with filthy, so I brushed it off for her like the gentleman I am. Also I’ve got the analysis results if you want them.”

Jason immediately replies, “Oh oh can I get them?”

Michael nods, “You sure can. Turns out that the hair on the puck was blonde, but Luna had black hair, meaning our killer has blonde hair. So what now Katt?”

I think for a second, “I think we can make an arrest.”

Michael replies right away, “That Julie woman really confused me, I think it’s her.” Jason seems to think for a bit, like he’s distracted by something. Michael pokes him and Jason begins to speak, “Ah yes, I think it was Jewel.” 

I shake my head, “Well it turns out the killer was Julie Marcia, the victim’s sister. The question now is why? Let’s go make the arrest!” The team and I leave, it’s not long before we find Julie, she’s sitting in the park by herself drinking a coffee.

I walk up to Julie and sit next to her, “Hey Julie, why did you kill your sister.”

She calmly replies, almost too calm, “Why not? After all it was a part of my orders.”

I glare at her, “Who gave you the orders?”

She looks at me, “The Shadow of course. Haven’t you heard of them? Everyone is following the Shadow these days. Are you following them?”

I get a bit angry, and hastily reply, “Of course I’m following the Shadow, but not like you are. If anything, I’m taking you and getting information out of you.”

She giggles, “No you’re not.”

I glare, “And why’s that.”

She suddenly pulls out a knife, “You’ll never get the Shadow.” She then slits her neck, and I watch as Jason backs up a bit, somewhat startled. I sigh and Michael speaks first, “Well that’s scary. Team, I don’t know what to do next, maybe we need to look out for more of the mystery man.”

I nod and stand up, looking around the park a bit. I end up stepping on a watch so I bend over and pick it up. I look over at Michael, “Hey Michael, catch.” I toss the watch over to him and he catches it, then looks it over. “Huh this matches my watch. This means that this has to be dad’s! Katt see if you can find him nearby.” I nod and walk around the park a bit, and I eventually find Benjamin sitting at a picnic table in a corner of two buildings. I sit across from him and he looks over at me. 

I look at him, “Never thought I’d see you again.”

He sighs, “So you found me. No use in trying to hide I guess.”

I snap at him, “Shut up Benjamin. Where have you been all this time and why the hell are you alive?”

He begins to stand up from the table and back away, “I need to go.”

I quickly pull a knife out of my pocket and throw it near him, it sticks in the wall behind him. “Not until I’m done with you. Sit back down, now. Explain why you’re alive.”

He carefully sits back down, and pulls the knife out from the wall. He looks it over as he speaks, “I don’t know. All I do know is that I’m needed here, in this time. I guess that’s why I’m here. I see you’ve still got lots of sass and that you’re still an expert at throwing knives.”

I glare at him, “That’s all you know?”

He looks up at me, “That’s all you need to know for now.”

I tilt my head, curious as to what else there is, “There’s more?”

He smiles at me, “Of course there’s always more Mia.”

I glare at him, “It sounds like you want another knife thrown at you. Anything else you want to tell me?”

He shakes his head and stand up, putting the knife in my hands. “Nope. Anyways, I’ve got to get going. See you later Katt.” He then winks and walks away, he’s gone within seconds.

I sigh and put the knife back in my pocket, and then stand up. I walk over to Michael, where’s he talking to Jason.

He sighs, “So dad’s been here all along.” 

A man then walks up to us, “Of course I have.”

Michael looks at the man quizzically, “Who are you and how can I help?”

The man looks him over, “You’re Michael, right?”

Michael backs up a bit, “Of course I am. Who wants to know?”

The man steps forward a bit, “Well I’m your dad.”

Michael shakes his head, “You are? No...Lance is my dad now.”

The man smiles, “My name is Neil. I see you found a better life, that’s all I really wanted.”

Michael seems to get angry, “All you wanted...was to have no children.”

Neil sighs, “Michael please…”

Michael turns away from him, “Shut it Neil, I’m done with you. Get away from me.”

He nods, “I see. Well it was good to see you.” Neil then leaves and as soon as he is gone, Michael turns to us. “So what next team?”

Jason is the first to speak, “Well...I think you should talk to your dad?”

Michael looks at Jason, “Why should I? He didn’t want me all that time.”

Jason shrugs, “Well I mean he obviously wants to speak to you since he came back. I’d speak to him if he was my father.”

Michael sighs, “I thought you were supposed to be dumb Jason.”

Jason thinks for a second, “Well I may be dumb but I’m not stupid… Wait, I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman?”

Michael narrows his eyes at Jason, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jason shrugs again, “I’m just saying a true gentleman would give his dad a chance.” 

Michael thinks for a second and then sighs, “Fine...I’ll talk to him. I guess I’ll go and see him, can you guys meet me later?”

I nod and Jason replies, “Yeah sure, I’ll meet you later too, once I eat these cookies.” I then notice that Jason has found some old cookies and is eating them. Some time passes and we go to meet Michael. Jason and I find him looking at a body, he seems upset. He looks over at us, “I can’t believe...who would...why me?”

I sigh, looks like we’ve got another case to solve, and it seems like this one is going to get a bit personal...


	5. An Unhappy Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heartwarming reunion turns sour when death comes to know one unlucky person. Can the team find the person who cut this happy reunion short?

I look at Neil’s body, who would kill him, and why? 

I notice a sparkly bow tie that catches my eye, as it glitters from the sunlight. I pick it up and look it over, there’s glitter all over it. I watch as Jason finds a fishing pole, and as he’s messing with it, he gets the hook stuck on his lip underneath the mask. Michael looks down at the body, “We had just gotten to know each other… I’ll do the autopsy as usual.” Jason and I hand the fishing pole and bow tie to Michael, and he looks them over. 

He looks at the fishing pole a bow tie very carefully, “This fishing pole, it’s mom’s. She uses this all the time. Jason can you find her? Her name is Aliyah. As for the bow tie, it belongs to the MGB Agent Anya Ivanova. I believe we’ve met her before. Katt, you know what to do.” As I leave Jason rips the hook out of his mouth. 

I bump into Anya not long later, “Hey Anya! We found your bow tie at a crime scene.”

She looks confused, “Huh? Oh I was carrying it with me in my bad and it slipped out. Is this about Neil?”

“How do you know about that?”

She shrugs, “I was on the way to see him, but then I saw his body. I left, as I have a weak stomach.I do hope you can find the killer soon.” 

I nod and leave, I run into Jason on the way back. I look over at him, “How’s your lip?”

He shrugs, “Okay I guess. It’s weird, Aliyah was going to go fishing with Neil later, but didn’t know that he died.”

“I don’t think it’s that weird. At least she knows now?”

We walk over to Michael, then Jason and I tell him how the interrogations went. Michael then nods, “Interesting developments. Well at least the autopsy gave me some good stuff. Turns out the killer eats lasagna and enjoys whipped cream. I think we should head to dad’s bedroom, we may find more there.” 

We all agree and head over, and as we walk into the bedroom, I step on a phone. I reach over and pick it up, brushing some dirt off of it. I look over as Jason picks up a dead frog by it’s leg, he’s swinging it around like it’s some sort of toy. He walks over to Michael and hands it to him, I watch as Michael holds back the urge to vomit. 

I then walk over and hand Michael the phone, and he looks it over. “That frog, can you hold it Jason? I think I’ll be sick if I touch it. Sadly, only Vitaly would have done this, so can you talk to him Jason? As for the phone, it’s got a conversation back and forth between dad and a man named Oleg Chernov. Katt can you talk to him, and hope he hasn’t been drinking vodka again.”

I nod and leave the room, I bump into Oleg on the street. “Oh hey I was looking for you.”

He looks at me, “What for?”

“We found your phone in an investigation. Want to explain?”

He shrugs, “Dropped it on accident.”

I look at him, “Uh huh. Do you happen to like lasagna?”

He nods, “I was going to have some for dinner tonight. Would you care to join me?”

I shake my head, “Sure, when hell freezes over. Do you eat whipped cream?”

He nods once more, “Yeah, it makes everything taste better, even meatloaf.”

I recoil at the thought of whipped cream and meatloaf, “Okay, one that’s disgusting. Two, why the hell would you do that?”

“I only do it when I’m drunk.”

I shake my head and leave, and when I get back Jason returns a few seconds later. He taps Michael, “Vitaly said it was supposed to be a prank. He said it was alive when he put it in the house though.” I then tell Michael how the talk with Oleg went, and he then looks at Jason and I. “Okay well. Since this was my childhood home before I was exiled…how about we check my room?” 

We then leave Neil’s room and head over to Michael’s room. Jason sits on the floor and begins to play with some blocks, and starts building them up. I see a knife and I pick it up right away, tossing it into the wall. I then notice a nail gun, which is odd. Curious to see if it still works, I shoot a nail into the wall next to the knife. 

Michael looks over at the nail gun, “I bet that’s the murder weapon, it’s the perfect size and shape. From the look of the stains on it, the killer eats Borscht.” He then walks over to Jason, who is still playing with the blocks. He picks up one block and looks it over, “These blocks, they’re mine. I loved playing with these as a kid. I guess you’ll want to talk to me Jason?” He then pulls the knife out of the wall, “As for this knife, it belongs to mom! Katt, talk to her please.”

I nod and walk to the living room, where Aliyah is sitting on the couch. “Well that was easy to find you.”

She looks over, “Oh do you need to ask me questions?”

“Well do you eat lasagna?”

She nods, “I do, I love making it all from scratch, even the pasta.”

“Sounds nice. Do you eat whipped cream?”

She nods once more, “Yeah, I love using it on all sorts of desserts, especially on ice cream.” 

“Ah okay. Well I don’t have any more questions for you, so I’ll be leaving.”

I walk back to the room where Jason and Michael are, I can hear Jason talking to Michael. I stand by the doorway and watch Jason speak.

“Why were there blocks in your room?”

I hear Michael sigh, “Well it was my room as a kid. It only makes sense that my stuff would be in it.”

“Well they are fun to play with!” 

I see Michael roll his eyes, “Remind me how old you are again.”

“Wait wait, I know the answer to this one!” Jason then thinks for a few moments, “Oh, it’s forty seven!” 

Michael sighs again, “Well you act like you’re five.”

Jason giggles, “Well thank you.” 

I walk back into the room, and start to tell Michael about my talk with Aliyah. Suddenly Lance enters the room, “Hey there. Since Michael is a suspect, I’m going to take over for now. Let’s head back to Neil’s bedroom.”

We go back over to his bedroom, and I pick up a bottle of perfume off the dresser. I spray a bit into the air, it doesn’t smell nice. I hear something fall over and break, and I quickly turn around. Jason is holding an axe, and looks guilty. “Uh, it was like that already.” I hear Lance sigh, “That axe, it’s Vitaly’s. Jason, talk to him. As for the perfume, that smell isn’t pleasant. Seems like this is Anya’s though. Talk to her again Katt!”

I walk out of the house, Anya is sitting at a table outside of a pastry shop. I slide into a chair next to her, Anya looks up at me. She’s eating a donut, and has ordered several donuts. She takes a bite and speaks, “Hey there. Got questions for me?”

I nod, “Of course. Do you eat lasagna?”

She nods as she takes a bite out of her donut, and I ask another question. “Do you eat whipped cream?”

“These donuts are actually filled with whipped cream, it tastes amazing. Do you want one?”

I nod and she hands me one. I take a bite and continue to speak, “Well do you also eat Borscht?”

“Yeah, I eat that as well. Isn’t it weird that all these are food questions?”

I shake my head and take another bite of the donut, “Nope, not weird at all.” 

I finish the donut a few minutes later and thank her, then leave to head back to Lance and the others. When I get back, Jason is talking to Lance, and I overhear some of what Jason is saying. “So then I asked him if he fights people with the axe, he said no though. Turns out he’s just a lumberjack, how boring. He does eat Borscht and lasagna for dinner every night though, so that’s pretty cool. Also, turns out he can’t get enough of whipped cream, loves the stuff.” 

Lance looks over at me, and I walk over to tell him about Anya. He nods, “Interesting. Should have brought me back a donut, but that’s fine. Let’s look around the front room once more!” We head to the front room and I see a plastic tiara sitting on a table. I pick it up and watch and Jason picks up a stick. I hand the tiara to Lance while Jason hands him the stick. He looks over the tiara and stick, “Huh that’s interesting, this tiara is Michael’s. Can you talk to him Katt? Also this stick, it seems to have been used to smack around by Oleg. Go talk to him Jason.”

I nod and head back to Michael’s room, where he’s looking at a book he’s picked up off a shelf. I stand in the doorway, “Of all people, you own a tiara.”

He looks over, “What? I-I do not!”

“Uh huh, the facts don’t lie Michael. You know how this goes, do you like lasagna?”

He hmphs, “So what if I do own a tiara, even though I don’t?”

“It’s a yes or no question, it’s not that hard.”

He sighs, “Yes, I eat lasagna, I also eat whipped cream as well, on top of ice cream or brownies.”

“I didn’t need to know what you use whipped cream on. Last thing, Borscht, do you eat that as well?”

He sighs again, “Yes, I do. Now can you leave please? I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“I’ll leave, but only because I don’t want to talk to you either. Bye.”

I walk out of the room and run into Jason on the way back. “Oh, sorry.”

He nods, “It’s fine.”

“How did the talk with Oleg go?”

He thinks for a second, “Oleg is kind of mean. Turns out he likes to smack dumb people who ask dumb questions with the stick. He asked me if I wanted to be smacked, but I never asked a stupid question. He wanted to leave because he said his lasagna and Borscht was getting cold. Dude also eats whipped cream too. He said I was wasting his time.”

I shrug my shoulders and walk back over to Lance, telling him about my interrogation. After I’m done, Jason tells Lance about his interrogation. Lance thinks for a second, “Back to Michael’s room I guess.” We head back to Michael’s room, but Michael is nowhere to be seen. I watch as Jason puts on a pair of fake glasses. I see a party popper sitting on a shelf, and I pick it up. It’s pretty small for a party popper. 

We show Lance our items, “These fake glasses, they’re a Russian brand, so the killer must speak Russian. As for this party popper, the DNA on it matches the McKenzie family, so the killer must be a McKenzie. Looks like it’s time to make an arrest.”

Jason and I end up both agreeing on it being Vitaly, and Lance nods his head in agreement. We all accompany Michael to arrest Vitaly. 

Vitaly is found to be sitting at a table, he’s drinking a cup of coffee. Michael sits next to him, and we all sit at a table behind him. “So you had to kill dad, huh?”

Vitaly’s voice seems to shift, “What do you mean idiot?”

“You murdered my father, that’s what!”

I hear Vitaly sigh, “Our father. I had to, he’s ruined both of our lives and there’s no going back.”

I hear confusion in Michael’s voice, “What do you mean?”

“You were meant to be in the MGB you idiot, but then he exiled you. He has ruined you and now you are stuck with those idiots you call your friends, for good!”

Michael is silent for a few minutes, but then replies, “Well...maybe that’s a good thing.”

“Maybe, but it wouldn’t be better.”

Michael’s voice raises in anger, “Oh just shut it, you’re under arrest.” He then turns to us, “Katt, go find Benjamin, he’s joining us whether he likes it or not. Jason, can you go talk to mom again? Make sure she’ll be alright. I’ll take care of Vitaly and go find Anya, I need to ask her something.”

Jason and I both nod and leave, I find Benjamin sitting on a bench in the park. I sit down next to him, he doesn’t look at me. “Benjamin, we need to talk.”

He still doesn’t look over, but replies, “About?”

“We need you to help us. It won’t hurt you to join.”

He looks over at me, “I said no, and that’s final.”

“Come on, please?”

He sighs, “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, I’ll give you five seconds starting right now.”

He looks over, “That’s not eno-”

“Time’s up.”

He sighs and rolls his eyes, “Fine, I’ll help you. Now will you leave me alone?”

“Yep, see you later!” I get up and leave, and I go to find Michael. 

I find Michael talking to Anya, and stand off to the side. Michael looks at me, then back at Anya. “Anya, tell me..am I meant to be one of you?”

I watches as she nods, “We were waiting for you to come back.”

Jason then appears by my side, and watches as Michael replies, “Well what does that mean now?”

She looks over at us, and then at him, “It means that you should join us.”

He shakes his head, “I..I don’t know. I’d have to think about it. Until then, I must get going.”

Anya nods, “Understood.” She then leaves, and Michael turns to us. “How about we go to the Nuevo base? I need to talk to Lance about something…”

We all head back to the base, Jason and I sit in a chair. Michael goes and knocks on Lance’s door, and then walks into the room, closing the door behind him. Jason then gets up and stands outside the door, and I join him. I guess Jason and I are both curious about what Michael has to say to Lance. We hear Lance speak, “Michael, good to see you again!”

I can hear Michael sigh, “Lance, listen…”

“You mean dad, right?”

Michael’s voice is cold, “No.”

“What’s up with you?”

Michael has anger in his voice, “I was supposed to be huge! That’s what’s wrong with me. So you know what? I quit.”

“Michael, no!”

I hear Michael chuckle as he opens the door, “It’s too late Carmichael, see you never.” He then walks out, closing the door behind him. He looks at Jason and I, but doesn’t say a word, and then walks out. 

Benjamin walks in confused, and he looks at Michael outside. “So I guess I’ll be helping you out for a bit. It seems Michael is now a big fancy MGB agent, but we’ll get him back I suppose.” He looks over at me, “While I do regret it, I will be here a while. Mia...what should I do?”

I notice that Jason is glaring at Benjamin, “How and why the hell are you alive? You fucker, you killed my brother! You don’t deserve to be alive!” I put a hand on Jason’s shoulder as Benjamin stares at him. “We are going to the next crime scene, and you will suck it up.” He then storms off out the building, Jason and I have no choice but to follow, so follow him we do. 


	6. Team Cooperation is a No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can the team learn to cooperate and put the past to the side in order to find the newest killer? Can the team find the person who wrote out the death sentence for one poor soul?

We arrive at the newspaper office, no one has said a word since Benjamin stormed off. As we walk in, Jason is finally the first to speak. “I at least want answers.”

Benjamin quickly turns around, anger in his voice. “I told you already. I don’t know why I’m alive, and I honestly don’t care!” He then points over at me, “I’m only here because your idiot colleague forced me to. So fuck off and get to work!” 

Jason rolls his eyes, and speaks with sarcasm and disgust in his voice, “Whatever you say sir.” He walks over to a table and picks up a fake bone. Benjamin speaks with anger once more, “Don’t call me that. It makes me sick to even be back with this team, but someone has to do the work when Michael is being all fancy. I found a body, I’ll autopsy it of course. Also found this wooden spoon, do whatever you want with it, I don’t care.”

I snatch the spoon from Benjamin as I glare at him, “Nice to have you back too Benjamin… Call me an idiot colleague again and I’ll make sure you have a knife stabbed into your arm. Got it?”

He scowls at me and goes to autopsy the body. Lance speaks, he hasn’t spoken since Benjamin stormed out of the office. “He’s...changed.” I silently nod in agreement with Lance, I can see Jason nodding slightly as well.

I look over at the spoon and Jason hands me the fake bone, “This fake bone, it looks like it belongs to John Carcus, he’s an animator. Lance, can you talk to him?” Lance nods and leaves the office, and I then continue looking over the spoon. “This spoon, there’s a local chef around here who goes by the name Mike Ardonnia. Looks like this is his spoon, so can you talk to him Jason?” Jason nods and leaves the office, leaving me alone with Benjamin. 

I ignore Benjamin and walk around the office, picking up a few files here and there, looking them over every time. I’m reading a draft of some sort of article when Jason taps me on the shoulder. “Sorry about yelling at Benjamin earlier. I hate him, but I’ll behave since he is helping us.” I continue to read, “That’s fine. I think we all feel the same about him, but we do have to get along for now. We can hate him afterwards. Did you find anything out?” 

Jason nods, “Yep. Mike says that the employees here enjoy it when Mike cooked for them. Also I need to give him the spoon back later, he says that’s his lucky spoon. I kind of confused him with my rambling, but he’s fine I think.” 

Lance then enters the room and comes over to me, “Are you done talking to her Jason? It’s fine if you aren’t, I can wait.” I put the paper down and look over at Lance, “Nope, just finished talking to him. Why, what’s up?” He sighs, “John and I agree that El Rey is dangerous, and I told him that he’s back. He thinks Benjamin should be slaughtered, because he brought devastation to us all. I had to tell him to step back though…” 

I sigh, “Looks like other people aside from us also have negative emotions for Benjamin as well. It can’t be helped I guess, but they do have a good reason. Let’s go check the library, I believe the victim liked to go there from time to time.”

We all nod and leave, but Benjamin stays at the office a bit longer. We enter the library and a few minutes later, Benjamin enters as well. He gets a few glares from other people in the library, but he seems to ignore them. I walk over to Jason, he’s picked up a book of ABCs. He then throws it, “This book is too hard.” It hits a vase with a flower in it, and the vase breaks. He looks over at me, “I uh, found a flower?” 

I pull a book off the shelf and begin to read it, Jason tries to read along but just gets frustrated again. Benjamin then walks over to me, and as he does, Jason walks away. He walks up to me and hands me a bookmark, “As dusty as it may be, I found this bookmark. Also I finished the autopsy, I’ll get you the results soon.” 

I hand the bookmark back to him, place the book back on the shelf, and walk over the the flower. I carefully pick up the flower, “Huh this flower is a kind only grown by Teddie Revux. He’s a local gardener. Benjamin...can you talk to him?” He nods and hands me to bookmark once more, but I hand it back to him again, “Relax, I already looked at it. Go talk to Teddie.” Benjamin rolls his eyes and walks to a different part of the library. I notice Jason standing next to me, and I look at him, “There was a faded name on it that read, Lulu Plano. She’s the librarian here. Can you talk to her?” He nods and heads to the front desk of the library, and I follow him.

He walks up to the librarian at the desk, “Hey, we found your bookmark in a book.”

She looks up, “Ah, I left my bookmark in the book I was reading and forgot about it. By the way, I saw you throw that book. Do it again and you won’t come back.”

Jason hmphs, “Well maybe you shouldn’t have such difficult books in your library.”

She looks at him quizzically, “It was a book of ABCs… Those are meant for three year olds.”

Jason shrugs and wanders off, pulling another book off a shelf. He tries to read for a second, and begins to throw the book but stops, and carefully puts it back on the shelf. I see Benjamin walking up to someone and I walk in that direction. I pull a book off a shelf near them and pretend to read, while I listen. 

Benjamin speaks with a bit of anger in his voice, “Teddie, why are you leaving flowers everywhere? I want answers!”

Teddie stammers, his voice wavering, he’s panting heavily, “E-El Rey, I...I lost it, I’m sorry.”

“Well if I find out you had anything to do with murder.”

Teddie sounds confused, “Murder?”

Benjamin growls at Teddie, “I’m watching you.”

Teddie then makes a small yelp, and he quickly walks away. I hear Benjamin speak, “Why did you need to listen in? Didn’t think I could handle it on my own?”

I don’t look up at him, but instead start to read the book. “Could you actually try to be nice at least? It’s not that hard to be nice you know.”

He hmphs, “Why should I be nice, I have no reason to be nice to them.”

I slam the book shut and put it back on the shelf, I walk away and back over to Jason. Benjamin joins us a few minutes later and I glare at him, “Let’s go to the local bar.” We all leave the library and head towards the bar, which is a few minutes walk from where we are.

We walk in the bar, and Benjamin looks around. “Something here seems familiar.” He looks over at something and is staring for quite a while, so I look over as well. Michael and Anya are sitting at a table, they’re laughing at something. We make eye contact and he looks away, pretending he didn’t see us. Benjamin taps me, “Hey, I found this weirdly shaped gherkin, like that anime sword. The killer must watch anime.” I nod, “I guess so.” 

He then walks away and looks around, and I watch as Jason walks into a wall and falls backwards. I walk over and help him up, and he hands me a paper. “I found this note. Stupid wall came out of nowhere.” Benjamin then walks over to me and hands me a corkscrew, and looks at me, “Oh during the autopsy, I learned the victim was poisoned with an apple. However there were popcorn seeds in the victim’s system, so the killer eats popcorn. I could also tell that the killer plays Poc-Men as well.”

I nod and look over the note first, “Huh this handwriting looks like it belongs to Ada Jacobs. She’s a reporter who worked with the victim. Can you talk to her Benjamin, I’m sure she’s here at the bar somewhere.” He nods and walks away, and I look over at Jason, “This corkscrew belongs to John Carcus. Can you talk to him Jason?” Jason then walks away, almost running into another wall in the process. 

I see Benjamin sit down next to someone, and figured it’s best I go over there. I sit down next to him, and he glares at me. “Ada, you have some nerve leaving notes all over a bar.”

She rolls her eyes, “Got to pass messages one way or another twerp.”

“Don’t you twerp me!”

She smiles, “What are you going to do?”

“Arrest you perhaps…”

She giggles, “Try me bitch.”

Tired of this conversation I get up from the chair and look over at Jason. He nearly walks into a wall but a man stops him. I walk over to them, where Jason is talking to the man. “Thank you. What is it with walls appearing out of nowhere?”

The man seems confused, “You seem like you’re looking for something. Anything I can help with?”

Jason nods, “Yep, I was looking for you! Found your corkscrew at the bar.”

“Ah I bring that to open my own drinks. I like to open my own drinks.”

Jason then thinks, “Oh I thought you screwed corks with a corkscrew, I didn’t know that they opened bottles. Do you throw it at the bottle to break it or how does it work?”

John seems confused, “I..wait what?”

“Do you watch anime?”

John nods, “Yes, I watch anime and eat popcorn every night. To be honest, anime is what made me want to be an animator.”

“That’s cool. What’s your favorite game?”

John shrugs and looks at me, “Random question, but Poc-Men is my favorite. Can I go now?”

I nod and John leaves, and Jason turns around, finally noticing me. “Oh how long have you been there?”

I shake my head, and Benjamin walks over to us. I look at them both, “Let head to Lucille’s house, see if we can find clues.” We walk over to Lucille’s house, and we let ourselves in. Jason walks around and pulls a poster off of the wall. He then looks over, “Hey Katt, how did you know we would find clues here?” Benjamin then picks up a fencing sword and speaks, “Well crime scenes are usually genuine to a victim. She learned well…”

Benjamin hands me the fencing sword, there’s a weird liquid on it. I carefully smell the liquid, it smells toxic, but familiar. “This fencing sword, it has some sort of pesticide on it. I believe a gardener like Teddie would use. Jason, care to ask him why this was here?” Jason leaves and hands me the poster on his way out. I look it over, “There’s a signature on this, it says “Property of Mike Ardonnia.” Benjamin, can you talk to him?” He nods and leaves the house, and I decide to tag along just in case. Benjamin notices me join him, but doesn’t say a word. We find Mike and Benjamin leans up against the wall, I stand a bit further behind. “Hello Mike.”

Mike looks at Benjamin, “You again, I guess they sent a smarter one huh?” Mike then drops his popcorn, and Benjamin looks at it.

“Tsk, littering is a crime. So is murder.”

Mike looks at Benjamin, “I already told you I did nothing wrong.”

Benjamin pulls out a ticket pad and begins to write a ticket, I can’t help but roll my eyes. He looks up at Mike, “Whatever you say.”

Mike watches him write, “Seriously, over popcorn?”

Benjamin ignores him, “Now tell me, do you play games?”

Mike shrugs, “A few, like pool, football, Poc-Men…”

“And what do you watch?”

Mike thinks for a second, “Basically the same, and a bit of anime.”

Benjamin nods, “Okay, that’s all for now. See you!”

Mike walks away, shaking his head. Benjamin looks over at me, “Do you always have to tag along?” I shrug, “Maybe, doesn’t help that people are scared of you. I’m just here so they aren’t that scared, but let’s face it, they’re still scared of you.” He glares at me and I walk away, Jason is already back at the house by the time we get back. I wave, “How did it go?”

Jason waves back, “Well he uses it to cut grass, the sword I mean. He says it’s easier than a lawn mower. Oh and he likes sword because of anime, which is cool I guess. Lucky guy has a date tonight with popcorn and a game of Poc-Men. It’s weird to date popcorn though…”

I sigh, “Let’s head back to the office and see if we can find some clues so we can wrap us this case.” On the way back, Jason speaks, “Wait what are we wrapping this case up with? Gift wrap? I don’t have any…” No one says anything and we reach the office a while later. We walk in and Jason steps on a bow. He reaches down and picks it up.

Benjamin looks over and takes the bow from Jason. “I must have missed this, which is shocking because this is a valuable clue! From this I can tell the killer’s eye color, which is green. Oh and I checked and got a CCTV image. It shows a height distribution, and there’s two figures on this. Lucille was 5’8” and there was a woman eating an apple. The person next to them is 5 inches shorter, meaning the killer is 5’3”! Katt, what do you think?”

I look over, “Well I think we can arrest now.” Benjamin seems a bit unsure, and he guesses that it’s Ada, but Jason thinks it’s Lulu. I shake my head, “Mike Ardonnia is actually the one who killed Lucille. Shall we go arrest him, I believe he is nearby.” They all nod and turns out Mike is outside the library, he’s carrying a recipe book. 

“Hey Mike, why did you kill Lucille?”

He looks confused, “I didn’t kill her!”

“We have all the evidence, now speak. Why did you do it?”

He shrugs, “Well she came to my restaurant to write a report about it. Somehow her food was slightly undercooked, so she wrote a bad report.”

“You killed her because of a bad report?”

He nods, “Yeah, after she published it less people came to the restaurant. Killing her was the best thing I‘ve ever done, it felt so good to finally get revenge. I was going to frame her friend Ada, but it looks like you got me.”

“Well now you have to pay for what you did, so you’re under arrest.” 

He sighs, “That’s fair.” 

We take Mike away and later learn that he was sentenced to thirty five years in prison. As we walk back to the base, Benjamin begins to speak. “Well that was interesting-” A man then passes by and bumps slightly into Benjamin. He then continues to speak, “I think there are a few things we still need to cover. For example, we need to find Michael. He’s at the local bar a lot, so can you look for him Jason?” 

Jason nods, “You got it sir. Oh right you don’t like me calling you that, do you...sir?” I see Benjamin twitch a little, and we walk to the bar in silence. Jason walks in first and as we walk in I see Jason pick up a watch and drop it. He then manages to knock a wine glass off the bar counter and it falls to the floor, breaking into pieces. 

Benjamin looks around, “He must be around here somewhere. Jason, if you find him, try to get him to come back. Meanwhile, I know there’s someone around here that I need to find.” 

Jason nods and I follow him, it’s not long before we find Michael sitting at a table by himself. He’s got a glass of absinthe in his hand, and he glares at Jason and I as we approach. Jason speaks first, “I’m glad I found you!”

Michael seems confused, “And why were you looking for me?”

“To get you to come back!”

He shakes his head, “I’m not coming back.”

“But Michael...we need you.”

Michael is silent for a moment, “I don’t know… I’m not ready to go back.”

“Well you belong with us. Oh and by the way, why do you have a picture of me in your watch?”

Michael looks at him and smiles, “Oh you saw that? Well it’s because I admire you.”

Jason seems confused, “Admire me? But why? I’m not very smart, plus I’m really clumsy and tend to break everything.”

Michael shrugs, “That’s why I do. You may not be smart, and you are clumsy, but you’ve never let that stop you. I’ll take some time and think things over.” 

Jason and I nod, and we leave heading back to Benjamin. He’s talking to someone else, and he seems a bit angry. As Jason and I walk up, we stay a bit behind and listen. 

Benjamin’s voice has some anger in it, “Stop, I know who you are! What I don’t know is why you’re here.” 

The man replies calmly, “I really don’t know what you mean…”

“Give it up Cyrus Riley!”

Cyrus sighs, “Oh no… So now you know the truth.”

“What? Is it why I’m alive too?”

Cyrus shrugs, “Someone, I don’t know who, is reviving people. I have strong reason to believe that they are a part of Nuevo. You and I were one of the one revived, this all started seven years ago.”

Benjamin looks over at us, “So one of the team is evil again…”

Cyrus nods, “Yes… I don’t know why, but they’re reviving us to do their dirty work.. What do you think Market Wall is?’

“Market Wall, I should have known!”

Cyrus nods and sighs, “Yes, the CEO is a head reviver, and I don’t know what they’re doing...but I’m scared.” 

Benjamin thinks for a moment, “Well...any suggestions?”

“My brother Jay, he’s running a party. I heard some big names are going to be there, such as Sapphire Nevixo, and I believe Michael McKenzie too. What I can tell you is that it’s endorsed by Market Wall.

Benjamin looks over at us, “Then I know where we’re going next. Team, let me know when you’re ready!” 

Jason and I nod and unison, and Benjamin smiles, “Great, let’s get going! It’s time to figure out what’s going on!”


	7. Guts and Glory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a party is ruined as the host is gutted, and a hole torn in his stomach. Can you find the person who gutted this person, and to remove their glory? Could this be related to the appearance of Benjamin and Cyrus, or to Michael leaving?

We arrive where the party is supposed to be, but no one is there. Benjamin looks over, “Well let’s look for clues.” Jason nods and wanders off, and I watch him pick up a radio. He then drops the radio in the pool, “Hey I don’t think that’s good for that guy.” He points to the dead body in the pool, it seems to have a slight hole in the stomach. I walk over to a table and pick up a notebook, and I hand to to Benjamin. 

Benjamin looks over at the body and he fishes the radio out of the pool. “It seems the body is Jay, he’s Cyrus’s brother. As for the radio, it’s labelled “C Riley” meaning Cyrus is around here. Jason can you find him and talk to him?” Jason nods and walks away from the pool, and Benjamin looks at the notebook. “This notebook has been scribbled over, and from the looks of it, from none other than Sapphire! Finally, Katt go find her!”

I walk by Jason while trying to find Sapphire, I can hear Cyrus saying something sarcastic. I continue walking around and eventually find Sapphire sitting at a table, she’s drinking wine. I sit down next to her, “Sapphire, why did I find your notebook at a crime scene?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know. I lost it when I was traveling.” 

“Is that all?”

She nods and takes a sip from her wine, and I get up from the table and leave. I walk back over to Benjamin, and I notice Jason walking behind me. He begins to speak to Michael, “At first I thought he was a zombie, and he says he eats brains. He let Jay borrow his radio and he wanted it back but I told him how it fell in. He just walked away, seemed a bit irritated.” 

Benjamin nods, “Interesting. How about we check inside the mansion? While you do that I’ll write the autopsy report.” I walk inside the house and step on something. I pick up a pack of gum, a few pieces have been taken out already. I walk back to Benjamin and hand him the pack of gum, and a few minutes later Jason arrives and hands him a map. 

Benjamin looks over the gum, “This is mine, so I guess you’ll want to talk to me Katt? As for the map, it’s a map to Katt’s house. Katt and Jay? I’m confused… Jason, talk to Katt after she’s done talking with me!” I look over at Benjamin, “So your pack of gum inside the mansion, huh?”

He glares at me, “What, I was looking for clues earlier. It must have fallen out of my pocket.”

“Well I know I already asked you this, but I want the answer again. Why are you alive?”

He shrugs, “And I could have sworn I already gave you an answer.”

“Well do you know who brought you back?”

He rolls his eyes, “If I knew, then we wouldn’t have to be looking for them. Now would we?”

“Someone’s sassy today.”

He laughs, “Look who’s talking. A bit ironic you say that, considering you’re the sassiest out of all of us.”

“Oh shut up.” I then feel a tap on my shoulder and look over at Jason. He smiles, “Can I talk to you now?”

I nod, “Ask me anything.”

“Well I didn’t know you were a pirate.”

I look at him, “What are you talking about?”

He shrugs, “I found your treasure map.”

“It’s not a treasure map… It’s a map from my house to Jay’s house.”

He thinks for a second, “Ohh you have treasure hidden in each other’s back yards.”

I shake my head, “We were friends, we exchanged maps so we would know how to get to each other’s houses.”

“That’s boring, I like the pirate reason better.”

I sigh and look over at Benjamin, he then speaks, “That’s a lot of...developments. Should we check upstairs? You know how weird parties can get.” I walk upstairs and see a bag of candy sitting on a table. I pick it up and take out a piece, eating it. I assume it’s from the party, so it must be safe to eat. 

I watch as Jason picks up a cookie. “Look I found a hairy cookie, it must be a new flavor.” He then takes a bite out of it and I hear Benjamin cough a bit, probably trying not to vomit. He glares at Jason, “You make me sick… The candy, it belongs to Cyrus Riley. Can you talk to him Katt?” He walks over and looks at what is left over from the cookie. “This cookie is coated in what I can assume to be the killer’s hair, and apple seeds as well. The killer must eat apples.” He then holds up a pair of garden shears, “I found these, there was a small droplet around the rim. It matches Sapphire, so you can talk to her Jason.” 

I nod and walk off, I watch as Jason shoves the rest of the cookie in his mouth. Benjamin hold back the urge to vomit once again, and I walk down the stairs. I find Cyrus in the kitchen, he’s sitting looking at a picture. I pull out a chair, “I’m sure you know why I’m here.”

“Well you must have found something of mine.”

I nod, “Yes, but I also have some questions for you.”

“Go ahead.”

I look over at the picture, it’s of Cyrus and Jay, “Well do you watch cartoons or speak Russian?”

He nods, “I’m very fluent in Russian. Also my favorite cartoons are on Saturdays, I like watching them in Russian sometimes.”

“I see. Do you eat apples.”

He nods once more, “Yes, I like to eat them quite often actually. Is that all?”

“Of course not. I found a bag of your candy.”

He shrugs, “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be there. After all this is my brother’s house.”

I sigh and stand up, pushing the chair back in. As I walk away I can hear Jason talking, so I stand around the corner and listen. 

“You’re Katt’s sister right?”

Sapphire sounds annoyed, “Yes, and I’m pretty sure you knew that already.”

“Hey, I’m forgetful! Do you speak Russian?”

She seems to be more annoyed than before, “Yes I do, and I can tell that you’re a tupitsu.”

“Aw people sure like calling me nice words, they must really like me.”

Sapphire replies, she’s bored of the conversation, “I’m going now, I have apple slices and cartoons waiting on me.”

I leave and walk back towards Benjamin and tell him how the talk with Cyrus went. Jason returns a few moments later and does the same, telling him about the talk with Sapphire. Benjamin snickers, “I have to agree, you are a tupitsu. Let’s go back to the pool!”

We walk back to the pool and Jason looks over at Benjamin, “You know what, here I thought I had a reason to hate you, but I guess not.” Jason then wanders off, and not paying attention walks into the pool. He climbs out and picks a pencil up off the ground. I look at the ground, I see a knife and I pick it up. I look over at Benjamin, “Hey can I throw this?” 

Suddenly Jason shouts over to me, “Oh oh throw it over here Katt! I’ll catch it!” I shrug and toss the knife past Jason, it lodges in the wall behind him. Jason looks over at me, “Aw come on Katt, you missed me!” I shake my head, “I tossed it near you, not at you. Last thing I want is to get in trouble for tossing a knife at you and actually hurting you. Besides, I missed you on purpose, next time I won’t miss.” Benjamin looks over, “Jason, you’re as clumsy as ever. The pencil is Michael’s so he is here after all. Jason, find him! As for the knife, no you can absolutely not throw it.” He then looks at the wall and realizes I already threw it. He sighs, “Ugh, well that’s my knife, so you can talk to me Katt.” 

I walk on over to the knife and pull it out of the wall, and then walk over to Benjamin, “Apples, do you eat them?”

“Straight to the point, nice. Of course I do, you saw me eating one earlier.”

I shrug, “Must have missed that. Do you watch cartoons?”

He nods, Who doesn’t watch cartoons? They’re fun to watch and a great way to waste time, so yes.”

“Do you speak Russian?”

He smiles, “I don’t know, do I?”

I glare at him, “Answer the question. Yes or no?”

“I do speak Russian, yes. 

I put the knife in his hand, “I didn’t know you could speak Russian. Here you can have this back.”

In a mocking voice he copies what I said, “I didn’t know you could speak Russian.”

I glare at him, “Well I didn’t know that you wanted to get stabbed for mocking me.”

He shrugs, “I was just messing around.” Jason walks up, “What’s going on here?”

I look over, “Nothing, just Benjamin being himself, going to get stabbed if he’s not careful.”

Jason seems confused, “Yeah, Michael is here. He says him and Jay were good friends, and that the pencil fell out of his pocket.” 

Benjamin sighs, “This is scary in all honesty. Let’s go upstairs once more.” We head upstairs and I make my way over to a box, and I open it. Inside is a whole pizza, it has pineapples on it as well. I look over, “Can I have a slice?” I then see as Jason picks up a rubber rat.

Benjamin looks over, “Of course you want to eat it, because it’s yours! Jason, talk to Katt. As for the rubber rat, it’s one of Michael’s espionage equipment. Katt, talk to him.” I look over at Jason, “I’ll go talk to Michael and when I get back you can talk to me.” Jason nods and I leave, I find Michael downstairs sitting eating an apple. “Need to talk to you.”

He looks at me and sighs, “Fine.”

“Do you know Russian?”

He nods and takes a bite out of the apple, “Yes, and I learned some off of Benjamin as well.” 

“Well do you watch any cartoons?”

He nods, “They may be stupid, but they are fun to watch.”

“I can see you’re eating an apple, so I’ll skip past that question. Anyways, found your rubber rat.”

He thinks for a second, “Oh right that thing. There was a squeaker in it but it broke.”

I leave and walk back to Jason, and he begins to speak, “How could you eat pineapple? It’s so gross.”

I hmph, “Says the man who ate a moldy cookie.” I notice an apple on the table so I pick it up and take a bite. 

“It was still a cookie, therefore it was good.”

I roll my eyes, and he continues to speak, “You know I can’t imagine you watching cartoons.”

“Actually I do watch cartoons, but watching them in Russian is fun too.”

He looks at me, “You understand Russian?”

I nod, “Yes, and I speak it as well.”

Benjamin then walks over to us, “How about we check the hallway. We’re close, I can smell it.” I pick up a can of tuna that has been opened, “Maybe it’s this that you smell.” Jason shakes his head and picks up a clock, “If you can smell it, then maybe it needs to shower.” Benjamin looks over the items, “Oh...these both provide troubling clues. The killer is a male police officer. I think we have enough to make an arrest.” Jason and I both agree on Cyrus, but Benjamin shakes his head, “It looks like Michael did this. Katt, can you find him and bring him to me. Don’t arrest him, just get him to come to me.” I nod and head off to find Michael, he’s laying in a chair by the pool. I lean over him, “Benjamin needs to see you.”

He shrugs, “What for? I didn’t do anything wrong.

“So murdering someone isn’t wrong? Come on, I’m taking you to Benjamin.”

He sighs, “Fine.” He gets up and I lead him back to Benjamin, and Cyrus is next to Benjamin talking to him. They stop talking when Michael enters the room, and Benjamin is the first to speak. “Michael, please tell me it’s a lie.”

“It’s not a lie. I killed Jay….and he’s next!” He then points to Cyrus and Benjamin looks over at me, “Katt talk to Cyrus please.” I look over at Cyrus and he leaves the room, so I follow. He takes a seat at a table outside, and I sit down across from him. I noticed that Benjamin and the others followed, but are keeping a distance away. I’m the first one to break the silence, “Cyrus, we need to talk. What the hell is going on?”

“You want to know what’s going on? Fine. What do you want me to start with?”

I think for a second, “Why are you alive and how?”

He pulls a small flat item out from his pocket and shows it to me, “This is why I’m alive.”

“What...what is that?”

He sighs, “It’s called a revival chip. Market Wall is doing something called “electric revival.” You place this chip on the back of someone’s brain stem and it sends a small jolt of electricity to their brain, reviving them. It also stays on the back of the brain stem. If it’s removed we die, simple as that.”

“Why is Market Wall doing that?”

He shrugs, “I don’t know the intentions of the Chairman. All I know is how it works. I figured maybe you could use them, so I brought ten of them.”

“Why would I need to use them?”

He shrugs once more, “You never know. They should all be in there.” He hands me a small bag, the chips inside clink off each other.

“Where did you get them?”

He sighs, “From the Chairman of course. Benjamin and I were electrically revived, but we don’t know why we were brought back. 

I think for a second, “This Chairman, you know them?”

He nods, “Yes, but I’m not telling.”

I stand up and look at Cyrus, “You have to tell me.”

He shakes his head, “No I don’t. What I do know is that they’re one of you. I’ve said too much already.” He then pulls out a gun and shoots himself. I stand there unsure of what to do. I feel someone tap my shoulder, and look back to see Benjamin. He sighs, “I knew it.” 

Michael walks up, “Now you know. The MGB hired me to take out those who are electrically revived, or ER for short.”

Benjamin looks over at him, and removes the hand from my shoulder. I grab the bag and stick it in my pocket, and Benjamin speaks, “So...what now?” 

Michael shrugs, “There’s a lot of people out there who are ER, but...I don’t like having to kill.”

Benjamin nods, “Then you know what to do. You’ll be granted immunity for now.”

Jason steps forward, “Michael, come back to the NFS. You belong with us, not the ABC.”

Michael looks over at him, “I’m going to guess you meant the MGB, but why should I come back?

“Well, because we miss you. I miss you. And like I said, you belong with us.”

Michael seems surprised, “Wait you do?” He then sighs and after a few seconds, he replies, “Okay...I’ll come back.” He hugs Jason, “It’s good to be back, but what now?”

Benjamin shrugs his shoulders, “What now? Well the Shadow is targeting me, so we need to work on that.”

Michael looks over, “What do we do?”

Benjamin thinks for a second, “I’m going to stay back, do autopsies and that stuff, but team we’re heading to Orca Tunnel! We’re going to take out the Shadow once and for all, and to say goodbye to me. I will die this time, for good.”

Michael shakes his head, “Dad...no.”

Benjamin looks over and smiles, “I’m sorry.”

With heavy hearts and a sense of dread, we all head off towards Orca Tunnel.


End file.
